Saturday, May 28, 2011
My links from yesterday
While Blogger was broken. Crossposted at The Corner.
Gallery: moment of impact.
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about male lactation.
Hand sanitizer marketing genius of the day.
A rare inflated-buttock accident.
The Miniature Life of Food and Drinks.
U.S. Postal Service Nears Collase
A long but worthwhile read at BusinessWeek:
With the rise of e-mail and the decline of letters, mail volume is falling at a staggering rate, and the postal service's survival plan isn't reassuring. Elsewhere in the world, postal services are grappling with the same dilemma—only most of them, in humbling contrast, are thriving.
With the rise of e-mail and the decline of letters, mail volume is falling at a staggering rate, and the postal service's survival plan isn't reassuring. Elsewhere in the world, postal services are grappling with the same dilemma—only most of them, in humbling contrast, are thriving.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sowell: Dependency and Votes
To listen to some of the defenders of entitlement programs, which are at the heart of the present financial crisis, you might think that anything the government fails to provide is something that people will be deprived of.
In other words, if you cut spending on school lunches, children will go hungry. If you fail to subsidize housing, people will be homeless. If you fail to subsidize prescription drugs, old people will have to eat dog food in order to be able to afford their meds.
This is the vision promoted by many politicians and much of the media. But, in the world of reality, it is not even true for most people who are living below the official poverty line.
via Newsalert.
Wednesday links
Don’t panic – today is Towel Day.
The economic forces behind the rising cost of beer.
Victorian tech support.
Severed head of patron saint for genital diseases is up for sale.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Run, Paul, run!
Jonah Goldberg: Daniels' decision not to run for president is bad for Republicans. Time for Rep. Paul Ryan to ride to the rescue.
What happens when Greece defaults
Telegraph: It is when, not if. Financial markets merely aren’t sure whether it’ll be tomorrow, a month’s time, a year’s time, or two years’ time (it won’t be longer than that).
Obamacare bombshell: Final ruling after 2012 election?
Washington Examiner: Read the whole thing.
This afternoon, the (4th Circuit) panel ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs by May 31 explaining the consequences if the court holds that the Anti-Injunction Act applies. That’s a bomb for one simple reason: The Anti-Injunction Act applies to federal taxes.
This afternoon, the (4th Circuit) panel ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs by May 31 explaining the consequences if the court holds that the Anti-Injunction Act applies. That’s a bomb for one simple reason: The Anti-Injunction Act applies to federal taxes.
This means that the appellate judges on this case may hold that the Obamacare individual mandate is okay because it is a tax. While the political repercussions of such a decision seem obvious, the legal implications are serious, too.
Under the Anti-Injunction Act, no one can sue to challenge the legality of a tax until after the tax has been paid. The statute specifies that no federal court has jurisdiction to hear a challenge until someone who has already paid the tax files suit, demanding a refund and the tax’s termination.
The individual mandate doesn’t go into effect until 2014. Therefore, if it is ruled to be a tax, then no one will have standing to sue until 2014. The Fourth Circuit cases would be dismissed.
Judgment Day rescheduled for October
Yahoo! News: Instead of the world physically coming to an end on May 21 with a great, cataclysmic earthquake, as he had predicted, Harold Camping, 89, said he now believes his forecast is playing out "spiritually," with the actual apocalypse set to occur five months later, on October 21.
Monday, May 23, 2011
A few links to start the week
Evil drunk birds are falling from the sky.
How to build your own Taser. And while you’re feeling crafty, here are instructions for making a urinal out of video game cartridges.
Hilarious signs. More time to waste? Here’s the rest of the series.
The World’s Biggest Treehouse.